‘I’m a mechanic – never say this to anyone fixing your car to avoid rip-offs’

One of the on has urged drivers to never do one thing when talking to anyone who is about to , warning that it . has worked on cars for more than 55 years and regularly posts videos to his YouTube channel to give viewers advice on how to lower the cost of running their car and .

In , Scotty suggested that drivers never pretend that they know more about cars than they really do, stating that . He advised: “Don’t lie to a mechanic and pretend you know more than you actually do. An old customer of mine called Bob did that when I moved to Houston, Texas. He told me he was too busy to fix his car, and ended up working on the guy’s car for years. I said to him years later, ‘Bob, why did you lie to me when you told me you worked on cars? You clearly don’t know anything about them!’. He said, ‘well, that way, I thought you wouldn’t rip me off’. But just talking to him, I could tell he didn’t know anything about cars.”

Many motorists believe that if they pretend that they know more about the mechanicals of their vehicle, they could be at a lower risk of being ripped off when getting it repaired.

However, Scotty noted that it is incredibly easy for a mechanic to spot someone who is talking about something they have little to no knowledge on and could be more inclined to trick the customer into agreeing to more work than necessary.

As a result, drivers who pretend they have more knowledge could face significantly higher repair bills by dishonest mechanics who may conduct unnecessary repairs, if any work is done at all.

Instead, Scotty suggested that motorists should ask the mechanic to explain what is wrong with their vehicle, which can help them to see exactly what the professional is going to do.

He added: “When you’re looking for a good mechanic, talk to them. They should be able to explain anything to you. It’s a machine, so if they know how it works, they can explain how it works. Maybe they’ll get out a fancy scanning tool – ‘here’s a waveform, this is what your fuel injector is supposed to look like when it’s firing, now we’ll hook it up to your car and you’ll see how it’s different’.

“They can explain all of this to you, not just tell you what they’ll need to replace. If you find somebody like that, run away – find someone who is honest and going to explain these things to you.”

Another way that drivers can avoid being ripped off when getting their car repaired by a mechanic is by asking for a rundown of all the tasks involved in fixing the issue.

By asking for a rundown before leaving the vehicle at a garage, drivers can hold the mechanic to account and find out how much time and money the job will take.

Motorists should also avoid revealing how much they were hoping to spend getting their car fixed, with untrustworthy mechanics being more inclined to increase their prices to the customer’s limit.